Dominant U.S. styles vs. the films that promote them

[Karateka_latino]

I'll add also the flashiness of TKD. Many kids see those guy doing flying, jumping, spinning kicks, etc.. they see those moves on TV and they end enrolling on schools.

When i tried to get into martial arts for the first time because of the kung fu movies. I tried to find a Kung Fu school and there wasn't a single school. They few Instructor to teach, didn't accept westerners, etc.. so i had to take Karate. Its just a few years ago that Kung Fu people started to share there systems with the rest of the world. In China, there was a time in which they almost lost the arts of Kung Fu. Thanks God they are starting to change a little that close minded attitude.

[NightOwl]

I believe that TKD is in a lot of movies- just not by name. The high kicks make it great for action sequences. This is similar to how wushu is used a great deal of the time in fighting sequences but never specified as a specific style.

[BLueDevil]

Also the Chinese masters used to be really stickler about who they taught, at times only teaching other Chinese. That mentality would definately slow growth in the beginning.

[joesteph]

Also the Chinese masters used to be really stickler about who they taught, at times only teaching other Chinese. That mentality would definately slow growth in the beginning.

Isn't is so that Bruce Lee got into conflict with other Chinese martial arts masters, that he insisted he would teach anyone willing to learn, not just anyone who was Chinese who wanted to learn?

Unfortunately, prejudice cut both ways for him. I understand that he was not chosen for the lead in the series "Kung Fu" because he was not white, and while David Carradine did later on study martial arts, at the time he was chosen, his strong point was that he was a dancer able to do those high kicks.

[JohnASE]

What strikes me as odd is the sheer number of Kung Fu movies as opposed to the rare one or two Korean arts movies. Even Japanese art movies outnumber Korean movies in a big way.

So my question is how did Korean arts gain the popularity they have with no media support? I appreciate your thoughts.

I don't think the Korean arts in general are all that popular, primarily TKD. Like bushido_man96 and tenshinka said, TKD orgs made an effort to spread their art and expand the business of martial arts. I remember hearing about TKD org meetings which were primarily about business with little discussion about the art.

Aren't there so many kung fu movies because Hong Kong's movie industry is so big? Now that I think about it, there haven't been that many kung fu movies made in the US, and most of them involved Hong Kong people.

Have any other arts actually made a concerted effort to spread outside their country?

Off the top of my head, all I can think of is JKA Shotokan. They had an instructor training program whose graduates were trained to spread Shotokan all over the world. Many of Shotokan's great senseis completed this program-Kanazawa, Enoeda, Asai, and Mikami to name a few.

[joesteph]

Like bushido_man96 and tenshinka said, TKD orgs made an effort to spread their art and expand the business of martial arts. I remember hearing about TKD org meetings which were primarily about business with little discussion about the art.

The power of the dollar. And it was Pres. Calvin Coolidge, who never said much, but did say in the 1920s, "The business of America is business."

Aren't there so many kung fu movies because Hong Kong's movie industry is so big? Now that I think about it, there haven't been that many kung fu movies made in the US, and most of them involved Hong Kong people.

Hmmm . . . John, I believe that the good people of Hong Kong tweaked Pres. Coolidge's statement just a bit. ("The business of Hong Kong is business." )